Tagged With "Elephant Transit Home"
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Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Glad you're traveling again, Mac. Boston is my home town, and October is THE BEST MONTH. Where are you staying in the city? I'd walk the Freedom Trail if you're feeling up to it. Go down to the waterfront. Boston Common and Charles Street are fun places to hang out. Newbury Street is fancy shopping and also has a few fun bistros and coffee shops. The Science Museum is excellent. Plenty of seafood to be had. New England clam chowder is great if you have sweater-weather. Go whale-watching...
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Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Mac. I'll be in Pennsylvania - Delaware - Maryland - Virginia later this month through September. Although a good way south of your expedition the colours of winter arrive gradually and the days are still warm enough to enjoy walking the empty State Parks. Only a leisurely days drive south of Boston. I love that warm gap between the end of an English summer and getting back home for that first chill of winter. LATE SEPTEMBER
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Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Thank you Dr. F. - wise words we will keep 1-2 hotels booked ahead and be flexible beyond that. We are really looking forward to this new 'slice' of America, I never realised that the Pilgrim fathers just named every new town after their old home towns - I'm going to be quite confused!! Thanks too Garry that looks lovely! I envy you being there ahead of us!! PS we are now on the verge of booking Cuba too and are horrified at the cost that Virgin Atlantic is trying to screw us for an upgrade...
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Re: World's scariest hiking trail?
As a confirmed acrophobic, I had trouble even looking at the pictures. But then I can't have an accident if I can't even imagine doing the climb. I'll concentrate on not falling down the stairs in my home and maintain my preference for looking UP at mountains from flat ground or water.
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Re: Should Wi-Fi be free in all hotels?
Technically, it would be possible to create very large WiFi zones, whether free or paid. But since someone gets paid (either on the meter, or a fee for the project) and there is a cost to constructing/installing the equipment to broadcast that signal...it won't happen unless someone is paying. In the case of the hotel, picking up on rbciao's point about breakfast--have you noticed that the free WiFi and the free breakfast tend to come with the budget chains, while the high-end places charge...
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Re: Should Wi-Fi be free in all hotels?
Free room wi-fi is one amenity that influences where we stay here or in Europe. We've noticed more and more Italian hotels and b&b's are offering this free service. In fact, we've seen free wi-fi zones in small Italian towns. Let's hope the expansion trend continues because it certainly makes attending to home and business much easier.
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Re: How'd We Live Without Travel Apps?
I love Yelp as well, and there is a app called Happy Hours. It shows me restaurants with their own happy hours and happy hour menu. I also like hiking trail apps. Those apps tells me hiking trails in the cities I am traveling in (in the US). I recently tried Wishbeen. It is a web application though. It's a travel planning and sharing web. I like it a lot because it helps me browse travel itineraries made by other travelers, and I can easily modify them for my own trip. It also has a map...
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Re: How'd We Live Without Travel Apps?
I had Viber on my phone and it was nice in the beginning. But when my calls got interrupted a lot and the quality of the talk was bad too, although I have WiFi at home, I deleted it finally. I think Skype is still the best for me.
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Re: How'd We Live Without Travel Apps?
I had Viber on my phone and it was nice in the beginning. But when my calls got interrupted a lot and the quality of the talk was bad too, although I have WiFi at home, I deleted it finally. I think Skype is still the best for me.
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Re: How'd We Live Without Travel Apps?
A lot to be said for what might be the ultimate travel app category: Maps and GPS. I know people have their favorites (Google's not the only one, according to my wife...) but almost everyone uses some version on their phone or tablet. Another good one is local transit. Most big cities have a route-finder on their transit site, but you have to find it. But Google Maps and HopStop and some others have transit info for most big cities. One downside: Apple is as bad as Google about business;...
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Re: Baby born on plane. Ticket, please ?
Wonder what the rules are for citizenship and immigration. Will the child be able to return home to Spain without an identity document?
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Getting around the UK is very easy using Public Transport. Students travel around the country all the time - going to Uni and back home for the weekend. Friends going to weddings and folks going to London. London - like big Cities in the US - is a Traffic Nightmare ! Fortunately the UK is about the same size as a US State. Maybe Florida ? So its only a few hours by road. Trains are much faster - but more expensive, You're choice. So... look at http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx They're...
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Re: Christmas in Arizona--what to do?
Arizona is a huge state, EyeWonder. Where exactly were you going to be home-based during your Christmas vacation? It would help to know so that we could better advise you.
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Forgot to mention that my classes and exams are over the first week of May. So I'd like to go after than. When I get back home I need to move to my new job and find a place to live, so I'd like June to do that.
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Here's a link to the current rates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Passenger_Duty The rates are based on distance from London to capital of the other country; for U.S., that's 3661 miles and the rate converts to about $108, twice that for any class above cattle class. The APD particularly bites for Caribbean people living in UK; they're in the next band up and that means a family of 4 visiting home pay about $750 round trip on top of the tickets!
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Re: Renting an apartment in Europe
CICAK, may I suggest you encourage your wife to see the big picture. When you're in a hotel room you are not required to savage the minibar. When you're in an apartment you aren't required to cook. The kitchen just exists quietly should you desire it. What you're there for is to spread out, have privacy with all the comforts of home, possibly be in a more interesting neighborhood & surrounded by people who interest you and who may even be interested in you and any number of other...
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Hi everyone! I'm back. Just arrived at my parents home for Thanksgiving. Not had a lot of time to work on this trip since I last visited TravelGumbo, but some progress to report. I have a firm ticket reservation for Manchester, returning from Paris, though a few days off the dates we talked about. But 29 days in Europe! Whooppeee!! I have a guidebook from the Library which I'm going to go through this long weekend (one by Fodors). I think this will help. Anyone know of a good pocket size...
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Hi guys, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. It was good to be with my family again. Visiting and catching up with everyone took longer than I'd thought, but did do a little research into the trip and came out with this plan. Basically, with GarryRF's advice, I think I'll focus my time in the north to save money cause my budget is limited. After that I'll finish my vacation in London and Paris. I need to find places to stay but more important now just to frame the trip. The details I...
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Hi Everyone! Hope you had a good Christmas. I spent mine with my parents, which was nice. I've been busy planning this trip that you've helped me with and I think I'm making good progress. Largely starting to arrange places to stay and developing a list of "must see" things for myself. Using the hostels and airB&B I've been able to get decent looking and affordable places for me. I still need to find something for London and Paris, but the rest of the trip is mostly worked out. Might...
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Re: Is Pre-check or Global Entry worth it?
I dunno...most of my overseas flights have come home through Kennedy in NY or gone out that way, and the way it's been sometimes, I think at $100 for 5 years, I'd take it. I'd probably even take it as a $50 per round-trip deal. When you get off the plane, you want to go home, not wait hours in a line...
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Re: Minneapolis in the winter
The Mall's more interesting than you might think - besides the shopping there are the restaurants, amusement venues, and events going on. Here some info about stuff to see at the Mall http://www.mallofamerica.com/attractions To get to the Mall of America you Take Metro Transit (easy and clean) From Minneapolis Hiawatha Light Rail (Route 55) - The Hiawatha light-rail line offers fast, frequent service from downtown (5th Street) to Mall of America. Hiawatha light-rail trains leave every 7.5...
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Re: Gifts to bring back from Portugal or Barcellona
I may not be much help, because we tend to send postcards to the grandchildren from each city, with notes about what we've seen and think they would be interested in, and to avoid filling the suitcase with physical items. But for those few things we do buy, we usually go to the market! One of our travel rituals, on the first day when we stock the apartment, is to look for a local preserve or jam that we don't see at home (skyberries in Stockholm, for instance). Once we've found one we really...
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Re: Whom did you say was flying this plane?
Well, of course Bling is right that a completely automated system wouldn't have resulted in that situation...assuming it was functioning properly (note the Westworld reference above). That's why so many systems (cruise control in your car, autopilot on a plane, driverless transit trains) all have a human override built in.
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Re: Cheapest airfare to Portugal and Spain
Can't speak too much about SEA-TAC strategies, but I'm sure you'll have to change planes at least once! Try to avoid any that change at London, because of the British Air Passenger Duty on the way home, and the huge hassle of Heathrow. I did a little random searching for next July, using an open-jaw plan: Fly to Lisbon, train to Porto, fly to Barcelona, fly home, and found fares around $1600 on offer. Lisbon is not that competitive a city, so one strategy would be to keep an eye out for...
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Re: How loooong does it take to get to your airport?
I think it depends on where one lives. Yes, those three cities may be faster; however should someone live IN Oakland, it may take them mere minutes using public transportation to get to the Oakland airport. And, using Oakland as an example, it takes me less time to get to the Oakland airport from my house using public transport than it would if I were to take my car simply because of traffic. However, to travel to my home to San Francisco (SFO) it is actually longer to take public transport...
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Re: How do occupy your time while flying?
Great ideas and i especially like the audiobook idea! For me it depends whether I'm going on the trip or returning home. Going, I tend to organize my notes and read about some of the sights I'm planning on visiting. That used to be in guidebooks but now it's a combination of guidebooks and material I've printed off. Coming home, I try to relax and unwind. Maybe watch a movie or read a fiction book. My next trip I want to use that time to learn some French.
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Re: Airbnb Questions
1. "...is payment for Airbnb places always processed in the US even for stays overseas?" Airbnb processes reservations for guests in their own currency, pays out in the currency of the host. So you, in the US, will always pay in US dollars, a UK resident will pay in £s, etc. The host posts prices in their home currency and when a guest in another country logs in and searches/books, the price is converted by the website at the current exchange rate and they always see the rate in their own...
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Re: Books That Sent You Packing (your bag, that is)
People always laugh when I tell them this but the book that most inspired me to travel was Arthur C Clarke's "2001 a Space Odyssey". It made me want to see the universe -- or at least Clavius Base on the moon. It wasn't until later that I learned I'd have to settle for staying on the planet. Little did I know those journeys would one day lead me to the home and friendship of the man who wrote the book that so inspired me.
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Re: Lost a US Passport Overseas? What I learned this trip.
I like HistoryDigger's idea of carrying extra passport-sized photos...even if you don't lose your passport, you may find them useful if you need them for a transit pass (as in Paris, for the Navigo). We also carry color copies of the ID page of our passports; in case of loss or theft it may help identify you at the consulate.
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Re: How do you buy your travel?
There's been no mention, that I noticed, of consolidators for multi-segment air travel. I've had great success over the years using Airtreks and now, after a number of bookings, have a "relationship" with an agent there. The only job of a consolidator is to find their clients the cheapest fares point to point and string them together to make a unique personalized trip. They use airlines with which they have contracts for the lowest fares so, short of a spectacular sale, will, as far as I can...
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Re: I get to Boomerang to Spain ! Cheap !
Well, but if Spain is the destination, passing up UK makes sense. On the other hand, APD leads to calculations such as Flying NYC-LON-Continental Europe: No problem; as long as your time in UK is less than 24 hours, you are a transit passenger and don't pay APD. Flying Continential Europe-LON-NYC: Not so good; you pay the APD on the trans-Atlantic leg, and that's high. The other issue with this is not APD at all; flying to the Continent through Madrid or Barcelona tends to be cheaper because...
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Re: I get to Boomerang to Spain ! Cheap !
Garry RF and PHeymont - Thank you very much for the information. In this case, APD is not incurred - Flying NYC-LON-Continental Europe: No problem; as long as your time in UK is less than 24 hours, you are a transit passenger and don't pay APD. In this case, there is an APD, even if the transit is less than 24 hours ? - Flying Continential Europe-LON-NYC: Not so good; you pay the APD on the trans-Atlantic leg, and that's high. Concerning the third item, this explains why Worker Bee had a...
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Re: I get to Boomerang to Spain ! Cheap !
I'm not sure on your question about WB's trip, because it depends on routing. From NY, AA most often uses their own seats for the ocean hop, but does use some BA seats from Newark. Other cities...not sure how many BA seats used in that direction. And sometimes it's a matter of class. For instance, last year flying home from Paris, there were AA seats in business class available non-stop, but economy was only available on BA Orly-London-Newark.
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Re: Paris Authentic
The 2CV is already on my reservation list for next summer's trip (might be my birthday present!). I love the routing logic. JFK is my home so I can't avoid it, but I'm always searching for ways to avoid Heathrow. Last summer that led to 5 days in Barcelona on the way home from Portugal, and next summer we're having Basel as an add-on so we can fly from Zurich instead of through London. PS...here's a 2CV parked outside a restaurant along the Adige, in Verona last summer.
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Re: Spain or Portugal?
Your budget will take you WAY farther in Portugal than in Spain, although with care you can do well in Spain as well. Portugal, and especially Lisbon, is the home of filling delicious meals in every neighborhood for 5-7€ which lets you spend a bit more on frills and excitement. You might think of something like a week or so based in Lisbon, a few days in Porto and then...if the budget stretches...a budget flight to a last few days in Barcelona (or other city of your choice with US-bound flights.
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Re: Replacing iPhone Abroad
Originally Posted by PortMoresby: I'd be inclined to contact the original source of the phone and see if they can Fedex a replacement. Be careful with that. There might be a huge duty/tariff you'd have to pay to do so. Check this out with your concierge before you take this route. But if no customs fee, I'd probably get a new phone from back home, too.
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Re: Replacing iPhone Abroad
"Be careful with that. There might be a huge duty/tariff..." VAT may, of course, be imposed but then most likely refunded when you take it home again. It's certainly worth checking out if all else fails. Then there's the dreaded "do without" option, if imagination allows.
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Re: Replacing iPhone Abroad
My husband would never switch phone allegiances! So, he'd still have to buy a new iPhone at home. Right now he's using his laptop to iMessage from the hotel wifi. But it's a good idea, and one that other travelers may want to try.
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Re: Replacing iPhone Abroad
UPDATE ON REPLACING AN iPHONE 5 IN EUROPE: Cologne's Apple store didn't have a US iPhone 5 in stock and the technician offered to order one for us. However, the phone would not arrive for a week, and we would be in London by then. So we made an Apple store genius bar appointment at London's Stratford City-Westfield location near the Olympic Park. WARNING: we made this appointment a week in advance, which is standard for Genius Bar schedules in Europe. (For laptop appointments, the wait is...
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Re: Help with Provence Itinerary
Thanks for the comprehensive thoughts! We have been in Arles and Aix...not for as long as I'd have liked, but I think we'll have to include Avignon this time (nearby, and only got an hour of our time before). I'm leaning to the idea of one day for the Luberon, one for Avignon and the rest closer to "home"--although the roast chicken is calling me! We're arriving in St-Remy around 9ish on Wednesday, with an apartment just behind the main part of the market (hope we can get through to the...
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Re: Agritourism Bed and Breakfast in Normandy
I can't recommend an agrotourismo, but I'd suggest you consider staying in Bayeux. Very small town, charming medieval core, great cathedral and of course its famous tapestry. We stayed at a nice B&B which was near the heart of the historic town core, very convenient to everything. Owned by a wonderful couple who were great hosts and were fascinating to talk to. And they helped us outline highlights of what to see in the area. An elegant home -- maybe larger than you need and not quite...
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Is a stopover in Iceland worthwhile
A number of you have helped me plan a trip to Portugal and Barcelona. I've decided to go on this trip next May when I'll have a few more days of vacation. Checking out different airline websites, I came across Icelandair, which flies...
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Traveling for Local Food
Hi...I'm in Atlanta, home of some great food (including barbecue, soul and MaryMac's Tea Room which you've all got to get to someday). Anyway, right after New Years, I'm packing my family (2 of us and 2 kids) and driving to Denver for my parents'...
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Safe to fly on New Years?
We're coming home from our Christmas break on a red-eye that gets in at 12:15 January 1--15 minutes into the new year. A co-workers is suddenly very concerned, she says its bad luck to travel at times like that. She says its not superstition,...
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Beating Jet Lag
One of the most frustrating things about traveling between continents is jet lag. It's a little different for everyone but basically is caused by your body's 24 bio-rhythm (internal clock) being thrown into disarray by changing time zones,...
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Some of the best small town festivals in America
I enjoy visiting festivals and special gatherings, especially in smaller cities and towns (where the crowds aren't so overwhelming). Fodors recently featured a listing of some of their favorites in the USA, many of which I'd not heard of...
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Books That Sent You Packing (your bag, that is)
The book I always think of in this regard is ‘The Sheltering Sky’, by Paul Bowles. And the subsequent movie, with the devilish John Malkovich as, guess who, Port Moresby. It inspired me to take the plunge and travel outside Europe, to Morocco, a place I’ve returned again and again, sure that would be so as soon as I read the book. But there have been others - ‘The River’s Tale: A Year on the Mekong’, by Edward Gargan, added Yunnan Province in China to my first round-the-world destination...
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Vienna to Padua Questions
This July we will be making our/my annual pilgrimage to Italy by way of Vienna. At first we thought to fly from Vienna to Venice and then a bus to Padua, but the discount airlines fly at ugly times and the major carriers are hugely expensive. So, we...
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3 Alternatives To b&b Accommodation In France
With reliably warm weather, beautiful scenery and gastronomic delights; France is a very popular holiday destination. As parts of the country are only hours away, it is a hit with both those looking for long summer vacations or short weekends away. France offers a huge variety of holiday and accommodation options, so there is something for everyone. While hotels and B&B’s are a very popular choice, if you’re after something a little different on your holiday to France then here are three...
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October - A perfect month to explore Udaipur and nearby sites
Udaipur, which is also known as the lake city of India, is a beautiful and romantic tourist destination, in the state of Rajasthan (INDIA). Udaipur has been the home of the Mewar Kingdom, which has built a strong empire from 11th to 20th century and has not surrender to major empires in India like the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal, etc. Now as said in the title, October is the best month for a couple (or family traveler) to explore Udaipur, as the weather is quite good (not hot or too cold). And...